SHAKE, RATTLE AND ROLL: INSTIGATING A CULTURAL SHIFT IN CAVE AND KARST MANAGEMENT

Cave management in the National Park Service has been an evolving field on a national level, with each cave and karst program coordinator adding their personal spin, while keeping true to the original purpose of protecting, conserving, and promoting our cave and karst national treasures. Some twenty years ago the great sage and father of NPS cave management, Ron Kerbo, turned to me and said something to the effect that he needed to retire so that change could continue to occur. He had taken things as far as he could go. I was a bit surprised and shocked. How could he retire? Ron is a cultural icon, at least in the mindset of cavers. He said what was needed were new ideas, new perspectives, and new energy to further not only cave and karst protection, but to continue to ingrain caves and karst into the everyday mind set of the NPS and the public. Little did I know that I would one day be walking in his footsteps and beyond. So here I am, ready to shake things up, rattle some mental cave gates, and roll with the proverbial knee jerk reactions. As the NPS National Cave and Karst Program Coordinator I’ll discuss the challenges I face on a weekly basis addressing the lack of knowledge, missing information, and need to reach out to the caving community to find out about NPS cave and karst resources. These challenges forced me to re-evaluate my thinking about how cave and karst resource data is managed as well as recognizing the need for a massive cultural change in the thinking of the NPS cave and karst community. Working with my teammate Jack Wood with input from Lima Soto, the USFS Cave and Karst Program Coordinator, a conceptual framework has been developed and is in the process of being implemented. As the National Cave and Karst Research Institute Director of Cave and Karst Management Sciences, I see the beginnings of a new chapter in how the “Feds” manage cave and karst resources data.